Empowerment and Autonomy of Women: Ushirika wa Neema Deaconess Centre in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, Northern Diocese by Godrick Efraim Lyimo (review)

This book offers the reader a window into the work of a deaconess center in Tanzania. Lyimo unflinchingly names the gender inequality and male dominance still pervasive in Tanzania, despite commitments to gender equity in the Tanzanian government and in various nationwide organizations, as well as in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (specifically in the general assembly meeting of the ELCT in 2009).

The Ushirika wa Neema Deaconess Centre established its mother-house in 1980, after fervent effort by determined women in the preceding decades. Deaconesses engage in numerous forms of ministry, ranging from the care of those in need, to educational initiatives for women, to environmental stewardship. Women assume multiple forms of leadership in these ministries. Overall, Lyimo demonstrates that the Ushirika wa Neema Deaconess Centre does indeed empower women in its region in tangible ways, including powerful economic and educational transformation.

Further, Lyimo conveys the hard-won nature of women's diaconal ministry in this context: to become deaconesses, women fight an uphill battle against societal pressures, and even when a woman has moved to the Centre, the cultural pressures exerted by her family still pressure her to leave her position of ministry (117). This is particularly so because Chagga cultural values strongly expect women to marry and bear children, while deaconesses at Ushirika wa Neema are celibate (though a separate house for noncelibate or older women is being established).

Lyimo completed the Master's thesis that led to this book at the University of Oslo. His director, Aud V. Tonnessen, offers a brief Foreword. The book will be of interest to readers from a variety of angles, beyond those with particular interest in Lutherans in Tanzania. It is certainly of interest to readers undertaking a study of global Lutheran expressions, and those committed to learning directly from Lutherans within diverse contexts. The book will be helpful for those studying the history of the diaconate in Lutheran churches and its various present manifestations around the world. The book also serves as another chapter in the history of women's leadership in the churches from biblical times to the present day. More widely, the book offers a vivid and contemporary case study for those querying the ways in which vocation and cultural norms can conflict—in Tanzania, in my own Minnesota, or in many places around the globe. Perhaps most obviously, the book contributes to the analysis of gender and empowerment in Lutheran churches. Helpfully, Lyimo works with third-wave feminism, including texts from African feminist theologians such as Mercy Oduyoye, to ground the book's concept of empowerment. Finally, Lyimo's book, and the work of the Ushirika wa Neema Deaconess Centre, are timely and urgently needed. The Lutheran World Federation launched its Gender Justice Policy in 2013. And as the women's message unanimously accepted in the 2017 assembly of the LWF declares, "Our liberation is bound up together and is a gift of God."